Winter's Fun?
by Speedy1236
Summary: Snow can be very pretty. For Knuckles, it first of all means a lot of work. And the last thing a snowed-in Emerald guardian needs on top of his troubles are a hyperactive blue hedgehog and a two tailed fox with weird ideas. Right? - a wintery oneshot


**Winter's fun?**

With the stroke of a sharp wind, the snow from the ground was whirled up all around him. Knuckles waved his hands in front of his face to clear the cloud of frozen white material, but quickly found it just aggravated his problem. Annoyedly crossing his arms on his chest, the red echidna waited for the mess to settle again. When it finally did, the island's guardian resumed trying to brush the snow off the stairway to be able to reach the top with the Master Emerald.

The sun shone onto the almost chest-deep layer of snow that covered the landscape, making every single snowflake a glittering small diamond. It sure was a beautiful view now that the snowstorms of the past days had finally cleared and he could get outside again. But before he could enjoy the stuff, it meant a lot of work for him.

Digging in the deep snow with both hands, Knuckles shoved it to both sides as he worked his way up to the altar's summit. He stumbled several times; it was impossible telling where one tread started and the next began. Muttering a quiet curse, the echidna pushed another armful of brightly white stuff aside and tripped over yet another tread. In vain trying to keep his balance, his feet found no real grounding on the frozen subsoil and he ended up falling forwards into a heap of white.

The fall ended when he hit something extraordinary solid and extraordinary cold. "Ooompf…" Knuckles swallowed a grunt and rolled to his side, slipping down the side of the Master Emerald and landing on the ground again, the soft and light snow flying up all around him to settle on the echidna again. "Stupid stuff…"

With some difficulty Knuckles worked himself out of the snowdrift. Regaining his feet, he reached to work the snow off the glazed surface of the Master Emerald. When he had recovered half of the big gem in a way that at least allowed seeing it was indeed green and not a mint-tinted white, the guardian walked around the stone to repeat the procedure. But before he could get to work, another gust of wind tore over the island and a new snowdrift washed right over Knuckles' last minute's work.

"I hate you, too…", he mumbled defeatedly, but stubbornly started another attempt.

He looked up when his ears caught the faint sound of engines. Stopping his work for a moment, the echidna craned his neck up and squinted into the brilliantly blue sky. The source of the noise was quickly tracked and it let Knuckles immediately know two things. Firstly and very important: it was no enemy and therefore no threat. Secondly: his hopes for a calm and quiet day were completely lost.

Following the Tornado's course with his eyes, Knuckles found the wheels replaced by the big long things he'd seen on it before when Tails had tried landing on water. Back then much to Sonic's disgust. Truth be told, Knuckles had liked the idea. Maybe also because the blue hedgehog had not.

Now the red and blue biplane slowly sank lower until it reached the ground and softly, almost soundless, slid along the snow, painting two long, straight lines into the white. Knuckles turned back around to the Emerald that had once more nearly vanished in the snow. Shaking his head, he brushed over it again, revealing the green crystal's top.

The echidna was about to walk round the gemstone again when a wave of snow was thrown all over him – and the Master Emerald. Once more all work for nothing. Angrily Knuckles span round and found himself looking into the broadly grinning face of a blue hedgehog; a red scarf wrapped around his neck and some snow in his fur and quills.

"Hiya there, friendly snowman! You haven't seen a red echidna around, have you?"

Knuckles groaned. "What do you want, Sonic?"

Sonic's face fell. "Nice to see you too, Knux. Having a bad day?"

The echidna sighed. "I got a lot of work to do. So what do you want? But make it short, I don't have time for storytelling."

The grin reappeared on the hedgehog's features. "I had an awesome idea for some major fun!"

"I don't have time for your 'major fun', hedgehog. I'm busy." Knuckles turned away from Sonic and resumed freeing the Master Emerald of the snow.

"We can wait until you've finished digging your shiny big rock out of the snow," Sonic suggested, either missing on the fact that Knuckles was not the least bit interested right now or simply ignoring it.

"Since when can you-", Knuckles started, but interrupted himself when Tails rushed up the stairs to join the others, moving with ease due to the fact that he didn't need to dig a path through the snow, but could hover above it.

Now the two tailed fox dropped out of the sky aside of Knuckles, throwing some more snow around all of them by his spinning namesakes. "Hello Knuckles!", he cheerfully shouted, just like Sonic completely missing on having doomed Knuckles' work to start all over again. "You look funny! You're all white!"

"Hello, Tails…", the echidna mumbled and half-heartedly tried to work some of the snow out of his fur, silently wondering if there was any chance he would get ready today at all.

Discovering the look on Knuckles' face, Tails' smile slightly shrunk. "Oh. You wanted to remove the snow and now I've thrown it all over it again, huh?"

Knuckles nodded.

Tails' blue eyes lowered to look down into the snow. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't beat yourself up, Tails." Knuckles once again leaned to push the snow off the Emerald. "But as you see, I'm really busy and don't have any time for – whatever you've planned on doing. I need to –" Knuckles faltered coughing when another gust of wind blew into the snow hat that had formed on top of the Master Emerald and send the white fluffy stuff right into Knuckles' face.

"– to get the snow off the Master Emerald, I see," Tails finished for him.

"Yes," Knuckles inclined his head, shaking himself. "It can't stay like this."

With a serious frown, Sonic walked closer to the Master Emerald. "So? Why can't it?"

"Because it –" Knuckles stopped again, finding that he had no real answer to Sonic's question. None that sounded sensible at least. "Because it can't be good if it's all snowed in!"

Still looking unfamiliarly serious, Sonic tilted his head thoughtfully. "Really? But if it is under a heap of snow, it can't be found so easily and is a lot safer."

Knuckles raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "Ehhrrr… No."

"You sure? Well, you're the guardian here." Sonic shrugged. "Was just an idea. Is this 'digging-out-the-shiny-rock thing' the only important work today?"

"No, it is not. The important work is guarding this island, hedgehog."

"You really think anybody will come up to steal your Emerald or something?", Sonic pointed out.

"You did come up," Knuckles remarked dryly.

"Not to steal any Emeralds," Sonic gave back.

"What gets me back to the question of several minutes ago: What in the world do you want here in all this snow?" While he spoke, Knuckles reached into the snow around himself and started to throw double handfuls of it aside.

"You just said it, Knuckles!", Tails declared enthusiastically. "Here's sooooo much snow!"

The echidna stopped for a moment to shoot the little fox a bewildered glance. "So what?"

"Snow is fun!" Tails smiled brightly.

"Ah yes. Is it?", Knuckles replied acidly.

"Yes. We came to show you!", Sonic added to Tails' words, once more ignoring Knuckles' obvious lack of interest.

"Ah yes," the echidna repeated. "Fine. But unfortunately for you, you've made the long way up here for nothing 'cause I don't have any time. As you see, I won't be done with that anytime soon."

"You won't? I could show you how _I_ remove snow down on the surface," Sonic said grinning.

"I really don't need another bright idea right now, hedgehog," Knuckles muttered.

"Really, it's cool," Tails tried talking him into whatever Sonic planned doing.

Knuckles sighed. "Okay fine. Then what do I have to do that is so much better than what I've been doing all the times before?"

Sonic smirked. "You come and stand right here." He pushed his way through the snow until he reached a spot a few meters down the stairs.

Suspiciously Knuckles followed him. "And what do I do _here_ when the snow has to be removed over _there_?" He pointed at the snowed-in Emerald.

"Just wait up! Now you turn around," Sonic kept instructing him.

Knuckles gave an annoyed sound. "Really, Sonic, I don't have time for playing any games with you now."

Tails had made it to his side and grabbed his shoulders to turn him. "We're not playing. Just wait a sec."

"Listen guys, the longer I stand here around for nothing, I –" Knuckles turned around against Tails' resistance, just in time to see Sonic lower himself down into the snow. The blink of an eye later, it was as if a whirlwind had just started on the top of the shrine. Reflexively Knuckles lifted both hands in front of his face to shield himself from the snow that flew up, spinning into all directions. Glimpsing past his hand, Knuckles thought he'd seen the outlines of a blue spiked ball in midst if the whirling whiteness, but he quickly turned away from it again.

When he carefully lowered his arms and risked a look around, he found himself standing to his big surprise on stony ground covered by a thin white layer. Turning over his shoulder, Knuckles blinked and for a moment just dumbfoundedly stared at the blue hedgehog sitting leisurely on top of the Master Emerald. The space all around the giant gem as much as a straight line down the stairway was almost free of snow.

Sonic grinned broadly and dangled his legs. "You can just say it was great –"

"Get off this Emerald, Sonic," Knuckles interrupted him with a glare.

"Sure. As you please." Sonic casually hopped down. "Now what do you say?" The hedgehog gestured at the ground, the glare already forgotten again.

Knuckles took a second to look all around. "Really, not bad," he allowed. Looking back at Sonic now leaning against the Emerald's side, he cleared his throat before continuing. "Thank you."

"Anytime," Sonic grinned, having enough common sense to push off and walk away from the Master Emerald before Knuckles had a chance to get mad at him again. "Now can we get back to the fun bit?"

The echidna sighed. "What _is _the 'fun bit'?"

"Wait just a Sonic second!", the blue hedgehog shouted and zoomed down the stairway.

"Sonic, Sonic, wait up!", Tails called after him and lifted himself up to follow.

Knuckles stood aside of the Master Emerald, staring after them in blank confusion. Slowly he shook his head. "Whatever," he said quietly to himself as he walked down the stairs.

He had just reached the bottom of the shrine when Sonic showered him in snow again by a far too fast brake directly in front of him. Knuckles tried in vain to shake the new portion of snow out of his pelt. "Have you ever considered looking _where_ you are running, Sonic?"

The hedgehog laughed. "'Course! I would run into stuff all the time otherwise, wouldn't I?"

Refraining from commenting on that, Knuckles' eyes stopped on the thing Sonic was leaning on. It was a long, blue board of some sort. "What's that thing?", Knuckles pointed.

"Snowboard," Sonic replied casually shifting his weight.

"Ah yes, _'snowboard'_," Knuckles echoed, "And what does it do?"

"You stand on it and ride down the slopes, like surfing on the snow!" Sonic grinned, gesturing with his free arm that didn't hold the board to emphasize how great he thought that was.

Knuckles frowned. "What for?"

Sonic groaned and his hand slapped flat onto his forehead. Instead of answering Knuckles, he turned around to the small orange fox that came up behind him. "Tails, tell me a good thing to do with the guy."

Tails pulled a wooden thing on two broad runners through the high snow, stopped aside of the others and dropped down onto it. "What's the problem?"

Sonic shook his head and pointed at Knuckles. "He doesn't get it."

"Have you ever done winter sports before, Knuckles?", Tails asked politely, turning from Sonic to the echidna.

"Winter sports? Like what?" Knuckles looked between his friends.

"Snowboarding, skiing… sledding with things? Like with a… sledge?" Tails pointed to the thing he sat on.

Feeling somewhat helpless, Knuckles shook his head. "Eh, no?"

Sonic grinned. "Then it is way past time. You know a steep, long slope around here, with not too many obstacles, like trees and stuff?"

Although having no real clue what Sonic might be aiming at, Knuckles nodded anyway. "I guess. Over there." He pointed.

Sonic nodded, obviously satisfied, and started walking in the direction Knuckles had shown. "Then come on and we'll show you."

The hedgehog had not walked five meters, when Tails called after him. "Sonic? Pull me?"

Turning back around, a smile lit Sonic's face. "Sure, squirt. You carry this for me, Knux?" He held the board out at the echidna.

Still feeling too confused to really contradict, Knuckles took the board from Sonic and watched the hedgehog grabbing the line fixed to the sledge Tails still sat on, now grinning broadly with anticipation, both tails twirling as he held on to the sides of the sledge. Pulling the sledge after him, Sonic set off, once again somewhat dumbfounded Knuckles following behind.

"Sonic?!? Faster?", Tails pleaded.

"'kay…" Sonic started running through the snow, forcing Knuckles to lift the board over his shoulder and run also to keep up with the others.

They stopped about two minutes later on top of a rather steep hill. Sonic looked around and nodded. "Perfect." He let go of the rope and snatched the board from Knuckles' grip. "Thanks for carrying. You wanna try it out?" The hedgehog gestured at the snowboard.

Knuckles shook his head. "Just go ahead. I don't know what to do with it anyway…"

Sonic shrugged. "Okay, then _I'll_ try it out."

Knuckles watched him lay the snowboard down onto the ground and hop onto it, the force of the small jump pushing the flat board to slide on the snow and soon Sonic was racing down the hillside in gentle curves.

"Knuckles?", Tails pulled the echidna out of his observations.

"Yes," Knuckles turned to the fox. "What's up?"

Tails patted the wooden sledge behind his seating position. "Ride with me?"

"On this thing down there, I suppose?"

Tails nodded vigorously. "Yup!"

The guardian sighed. Couldn't hurt, could it? "Okay, if it makes you happy…", he gave in and sat behind the fox. "Now what?"

"Help me push!" Putting both his feet down into the snow, Tails shoved the sledge forwards.

Knuckles added a strong push by his own; and quickly gathering speed, they started sliding down the slope. Squinting through the wind in his face, Knuckles leaned to look over Tails' shoulder where they were going. Tails curved around a snow-covered rock in their way. "How do you steer with this thing?", the echidna asked, shouting over the wind into Tails' ear.

Tails half turned to glance at Knuckles. "You put a foot in the snow. Like this!"

Knuckles watched how Tails put his right foot down and the next thing he knew was that the sledge as much as Tails and himself riding on it were tilting; and he ended up lying on his back in the snow. Sitting back up, the echidna spotted the sledge lying a few meters down the hill on its side, Tails sitting in the snow aside of it. Knuckles found he was grinning in spite of himself. "Ah yes, just like this, I see."

Tails giggled, recovering the sledge. "I haven't done it in a year… Theory's great, I just need some more… practice."

"I guess so, little bro," Sonic put in as he stopped beside his friends, holding the snowboard tucked under his arm. "Now that was not nice. First ride and first accident."

The fox laughed. "Too steep turn and too much speed."

Sonic shook his head. "No way! You can't have too much speed!"

"For that thing you obviously can," Knuckles remarked smirking, still sitting in the snow.

"As Tails said, all just practice." Sonic put one end of his board down and leaned onto it.

"Sonic, can I try the snowboard now?", Tails asked eagerly pointing at it.

The hedgehog grinned and shook his head. "Crashing with the sledge but wanting the board…" He pulled it back out of the snow and held it out at Tails. "Don't break your tails."

"Won't!" The fox snatched the snowboard and hurried up the hill.

Sonic rubbed his nose, looking back down on Knuckles. "You plan on sitting here and wait for your butt freezing solid? Or are you up for another attempt?" He held his hand out at the echidna.

"Who says I _want_ another ride?", Knuckles gave back, but grabbed Sonic's offered hand and let the hedgehog pull him back up.

Sonic shrugged with a smile. "I've seen you _grin_, Knux."

"So, did you?" Hiding the smile tugging on his own lips, Knuckles followed the hedgehog as he started climbing back up the slope.

When they reached the top, Sonic put the sledge down and jumped onto it. He looked up at Knuckles. "Now do you want to stand here forever?"

"I can't let you break your neck alone now, can I?" Knuckles smirked and sat behind him.

"Ready? Then hang on tight!" Sonic put both feet down and pushed off with a remarkable jolt.

Much faster than the last time, the sledge summoned momentum. Knuckles rapidly had to admit, Sonic was better at this than Tails was. The hedgehog was sliding so sharp turns on the way down Knuckles thought multiple times they would keel over once more, but Sonic seemed to know how to keep balance. Looking past the hedgehog, Knuckles spotted the rather big bump in the hillside in front of them.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?", he called over the rush of air about their both' ears.

"Sure! This is going to be an awesome ski jump!", Sonic shouted back.

Before Knuckles had the chance to ask if Sonic had meant that the way it had sounded, the sledge shot over the head of the bump and up into the air. "Whoa…!"

Leaning aside, Knuckles wanted to check on how far below the ground was, but it seemed to have not been very much; in the moment he caught a glimpse of the snowy subsoil, a jolt ran through their vehicle as the left runner made contact with the ground. The right one however didn't and Knuckles found he was send flying forwards. He landed half sprawled over Sonic and quickly pushed off, just to fall backwards onto his tail.

Laughing so hard he was gasping, Sonic rolled over and sat up. The blue hedgehog needed a moment until he had himself enough under control to speak. "Do you think there's any chance you'll learn hold your balance?"

Knuckles shrugged, brushing snow off his scarlet fur. "I learned something else: I will not ride again with you in front."

Sonic pulled a face. "Come on, it wasn't that bad now, was it?"

"No, it was alright," Knuckles admitted. "But I almost stabbed myself on those blades on your back!"

The grin reappeared on Sonic's face. "Ah." He ran a hand over the spiked backside of his head. "If _that's_ all… I'll have to teach you how to steer then, don't I?"

"I guess." Knuckles nodded, after a nearly complete lack of success giving up on his attempt to free himself from the snow.

In one springy bound Sonic had hopped to his feet. "You know what? When you're in the front, I can take a run-up and push for extra speed! And then we can take that jump even better!"

Knuckles let himself flop back into the snow, faking a groan, but unable to keep the grin off his face. "Oh crap."


End file.
